The Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI goes far beyond a reference architecture or validated node by delivering efficient operations, flexible consumption models, and high-level enterprise expertise. Weaving simplicity into every aspect of the buyer’s experience, we have made it increasingly easy for customers to order, deploy, maintain, and support their modernized, on-premises infrastructure. The following figure summarizes the unique and differentiating pillars of our integrated system.
Figure 9. Pillars of our integrated system
Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI is an all-in-one fully productized HCI solution with flexible factory-ready AX nodes as the foundation. We have a broad portfolio of AX nodes that are intelligently and deliberately configured with a wide range of component options to meet the requirements of nearly any use case – from the smallest remote or branch office to the most demanding database workloads. The chassis, drive, processor, DIMM module, network adapter and their associated BIOS, firmware, and driver versions have been carefully selected and tested by the Dell Technologies engineering team to optimize the performance and resiliency of Azure Stack HCI. Our engineering has also validated networking topologies using Dell EMC PowerSwitch network switches.
Azure Stack HCI is one of (if not the best) performing HyperConverged platforms in the industry. The combination of the intelligent design of the storage stack, combined with drives inside the nodes (closer to processor and memory vs external storage) and the use of RDMA protocols on networking lead to unparalleled disk IO and very low latency. In internal testing, Dell has observed over 1,000,000 IOPS per cluster node at sub-millisecond latencies. This is great for performance sensitive applications like SQL databases as well as other transactional systems. It also means that a desired performance level can be achieved with less expensive drives which saves money. Another added benefit is that disk performance is likely to no longer be a concern, which provides investment protection and added longevity of the system.
For workloads that demand peak performance, we have created higher-end configurations including 25/100GbE RDMA networking, Intel Optane persistent memory (Windows Server HCI only), and high-performance PCIe Gen 4 non-blocking NVMe drives. Dell EMC PowerSwitch 10/25/100GbE network switches are fully qualified to work seamlessly within the Azure Stack HCI architecture. The integrated system can be deployed using a variety of networking topologies depending on performance and capacity requirements.
Note 1: Dell EMC Integrated Systems AX-750, AX-7525, and AX-650 supports only 2 nodes for switchless storage.
Note 2: Dell Technologies recommend to setup data centers with 25 GbE network switches as the price per port is almost identical to 10 GbE network switches. This gives an advantage for IT organizations to achieve maximum performance with the right cost.
Arguably the most compelling aspect of our integrated system is our life cycle management capability.
Dell Technologies makes support services simple, flexible, and worry free – from installation and configuration to comprehensive, single source support. Certified deployment engineers ensure accuracy and speed, reduce risk and downtime, and free IT staff to work on those higher value priorities. Our one-stop cluster level support covers the hardware, operating system, hypervisor, and Storage Spaces Direct software, whether you purchased your license from Dell EMC or from Microsoft.